Pacquiao Not Focused on Securing a Knockout of Rios

Manny Pacquiao feels "fresh, strong and fast" ahead of his clash with Brandon Rios on November 23.

The 34-year-old (54-5-2 38KOs) has not fought since August 2012 when he was surprisingly stopped in six rounds by Juan Manuel Marquez.

He faces 27-year-old American Rios (31-1-1 23KOs) for the vacant WBO international welterweight title in Macau, China and the 'Pacman' is relishing his overdue return to the ring.

"The year off has been good and I am very excited to get back into the ring and fight and to do it for the fans. I feel very fresh, strong and fast," said Pacquiao. "My training for this fight has been unique and my training camp has been very long for this fight.

"My preparation has been going very well so I think it is going to be an exciting fight. I have given over 100 percent to my preparation for this fight.

"The key to winning the fight is to train hard and to focus while in training. Focus on my speed and power so I am ready when I get into the ring."

Pacquiao, the first and only eight-division world champion, believes the come-forward style of Rios will suit him as he bids to come back from two consecutive defeats, having lost to Marquez and before that Timothy Bradley.

"I want his style of fighting," said Pacquiao. "He likes to come inside and I like that style. I don't like to chase and I'm pretty sure I won't have to chase him.

"I will not go for the knockout in this fight but if I have a chance to finish early, why not? But I am not thinking that I need to knock him out.

"In training if I focus on a knockout I will get careless in the ring on the night of the fight. So what I need to do is focus in training so I am ready to get in the ring on the night of the fight."

Pacquiao insists he has come to terms with his shock defeat to Marquez and his focus is totally on beating Rios in what will be his first fight in China.

"I don't think I had a mistake in that (Marquez) fight. If you look back... I had 100 percent conditioning, aggressiveness. That (defeat) is part of boxing. I accept 100 percent what happened in the last fight.

"I have trained early (for Rios) because I want to prove that I can still fight in the top (tier) of boxing.

"This time my preparation is more serious, more focused. My mind is like when I was 20 years old."

[QUOTE=lets rumble;13886277]I am not saying rios is an easy fight, he just wont beat pac at 147 , to make this fight competitive it would have been better at 135 where rios was a force . even at 140 rios…

[QUOTE=-MAKAVELLI-;13885480]and the next day, Floyd [email protected] will talk about how boring he was...while [email protected] put up the 'boxing is about hitting and not getting hit' mantra
and i will hide in the lounge[/QUOTE]
:haha::haha::biggthump